The Homecoming of Balor
by Jet556
Summary: Fifteen years after Mumm-Ra's final defeat, a year of peace is broken for Wilusa when Brigid is abducted by Thomeheb. Balor learns from Wodanaz that Sotark is responsible, seeking revenge for his death by Balor's hands. With the aid of the ThunderCats, Gardites, Zuvowangidae, Dalvings and others Balor sets out to rescue his wife.
1. Proem

**Welcome everyone. This story will bring back a lot of elements from my earlier stories. Enjoy and review.**

**Proem**

Sotark was dead. Stabbed in the heart with a rib of his own father by a mere child, a grey skinned barbarian, a savage. His power had been great but the child Balor had slew him through a stroke of luck.

Now he was the most dangerous of all Eternals and one who had become an Eternal the same year as he served him. Deep in the pit, he languished chained like a common criminal and stuck in a frozen lake.

"Thomeheb…" Sotark opened his eyes and looked around. "I summon you."

Out of the earth came a muddy abomination. This was Thomeheb, kin to Balor, enemy of Gard, servant to Mumm-Ra once and now to him.

"I do ask you command, Sotark…"

"Bring Balor here and yet do not bring him here."

"I know not what you mean by that."

"Balor is Chieftain of Evabon now… He has taken a wife… Wilusa and the Evabon nations have known a year of peace… Peace… I hate it! When I lived there was always a conflict to bloody my hands with! Bring Balor's wife here, he will follow, I shall peel the flesh from his bones and without a child their will be a succession crisis and once you and my fellow servants have finally broken my chains… There shall be glorious chaos for my return!"

"What of Gard?" asked Thomeheb.

"Pay him no mind!" Sotark's answer caused Thomeheb's eyes to widen. Pay Gard no mind? How was that possible? It was Gard who was responsible for his, Thomeheb's death. He wanted revenge as much as Sotark and yet his master told him to pay no mind to the one who was responsible for his death?

"As you wish." Thomeheb had his own agenda and yet he could not disobey. No Eternal would dare disobey the most powerful of them. "What if the Thunderans should come to his aid? They have the Sword of Omens!"

"You fear gnats?" asked Sotark. "Go! I freed you from the state Balor had left you in fifteen years ago and I could easily remove you from it! Now go or know my wrath as an eternal!"

" I go! I go!" Thomeheb then started to melt into earth. "As quick as an arrow from the bow!"


	2. The Band of Sotark

**Welcome back everyone. Enjoy and review.**

**The Band of Sotark**

Wilusa had known a year of peace since Mumm-Ra's resurrection and subsequent defeat. Much of Third Earth had known the same peace. It was almost like Mumm-Ra's very presence of Third Earth had caused conflict, all he needed to do was exist and there would be war.

That night, there was a celebration in Wilusa. A year Balor and Brigid had been married, a year Wilusa had known peace, however there were still those who stared jealously but they were still happy with the rest of Wilusa and the Evabon clans.

The Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara were attending. Of all the ThunderCats, they alone were there. Not all of the ThunderCats could be absent from Thundera and in Lion-O's place Panthro ruled in his absence. To be honest, Panthro found fighting easier than many a kingly duty.

"Sotark's band would have been quite the thing to find!" mused Dalv while others sat or stood near him. "Imagine owning that, sure it would probably take fifty people to lift it but still it would be something!"

"That is fascinating, Dalv." Commented Cheetara. "How about you tell us your theory that Kernunnos survived the battle of Sengann again."

"Oh, well, as you are all aware no one was present to see Kernunnos die and therefore his death by being crushed by falling ceiling is merely conjecture and as we all know only so much of Sengann was burnable and thus there was not that much that could have fallen on Kernunnos."

Lion-O turned to look at Gard, standing by a broken pillar with his axe in hand. He just looked at the blade, constantly wondering if stone or metal was better.

"So how are the happy couple?" asked Lion-O.

"Fine." Gard kept looking at his axe. "I miss the flying boats of my youth."

"That's great, Gard." Lion-O grabbed the axe and looked at it. "Go back to stone, metal isn't for you. So any signs of…"

"No, not yet and you should be seeking a queen before you are on your deathbed."

"I'm thirty-two."

"I know but we don't want a repeat of your previous death."

Lion-O sighed. "I'm starting to wish we never told you about that."


	3. An Eye for an Eye

**Welcome back everyone. I haven't done this in a while but I thought I'd mentally cast voices for the adult Balor and Brigid. For Balor I'd say Jason Momoa and for Brigid I think Jaimie Alexander. Considering I mentally cast William Smith as Gard, I think Jason Momoa would work well. Enjoy and review.**

**An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth from the Pit**

Balor and Brigid stood near a wall of stone. Time alone was all they wanted the celebrations had been long. Early in the day there had been a tilt, in the middle there had been a brawl between the champion of the tilt and all those with him and the one deemed second best and all those with him and finally an archery bout.

That had all been in the morning.

The afternoon was less violent with many stories being told. The battle of Sengann had been told with both Balor and Brigid feeling that the story was not quite how they remembered it. Indeed those who had been there found the telling to be not quite right.

The evening was far more quiet! People merely talked to each other.

They had been married a year, Balor and Brigid. Mumm-Ra was dead again for a year, Wilusa had known peace for a year, Third Earth had known peace for a year. It was almost like Mumm-Ra being alive caused chaos and that was a rather accurate way to describe his life.

For any leader there would be trials and tribulations. Lion-O had gone through then as Lord of the ThunderCats and Balor was going through them too as Chieftain of Evabon. The first year had been chaotic, the second one more so but this third year had proven to be quiet.

"Something on your mind, Balor?" asked Brigid.

"Just thinking about the past two years."

"What about them?"

"The year I became Chieftain was filled with chaos, mainly because of Alaksandu's reign. The year after was longer than it felt and more chaotic than the previous but this year is very nice."

"Not for long." That voice, it caused Balor's eyes to widen as he realized whose voice it was. It was Thomebeb's! Balor turned to see Thomeheb come out of the stone and grab Brigid. "Revenge has come, Balor! Sotark seeks it and I shall have my revenge upon he whose bloodline spawned you!" And with that Thomeheb and Brigid both vanished.


	4. A Battle between Chieftains

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**A Battle between Chieftains**

When Balor explained what had happened, everyone was in shock. Thomeheb had been dead for the past fifteen years and Balor had apparently trapped him as a statue. Sotark too had been dead for the past fifteen years and had not made any actions as an Eternal in that time to the best of anyone's knowledge.

There was one however, who did not feel any sympathy for Balor. Einar, the Chieftain of Lothbrok, stared in hatred at the Chieftain of Wilusa. The warlike Lothbrokian stared at the peaceful Wilusan, thinking of how much of a disgrace Balor was to all of Evabondom.

A half-blind golden skinned Evabon of forty-two, Einar was a sadistic monster that fought without reason. With a sword hanging by his side, Einar stared with his right eye. His face was as horrible to look at as could be and when he stared it was never out of love.

"Liar!" Einar held up his cup of made from a horn and hurled it at Balor. "You speak of a some Eternal carrying off your wife when she must have run away with a better man! A man like me!"

"No woman, no matter the race would ever run away with a man like you!" Cheetara's comment was a truthful one. She did not like Einar, there were few of Wilusa's allies that did and he was considered a monster even by Lothbrokian standards.

Her comment only caused Einar to laugh. "Do you need a grimalkin from Thundera to speak for you, Balor?" Einar leapt up from his place, the farthest from where Balor sat in the round hall, with the place that would have been for Einar given to his second Ogier Right-Hand. "Fight me and know your better!"

"I don't fight topers." Balor unsheathed his dagger and threw it to the ground. "I have no weapon and you must obey the laws of combat if you wish to fight me."

Einar charged only to trip over his own feet. He had drunk a little bit too much of a Wilusan concoction of vinegar and fermented milk. Standing up, Einar looked around as his own men stared with disapproval. "Why should I be dictated by a Wilusan law? I will fight you if I wish, coward! I will… Fight you when I am abstemious." Einar threw his sword near Balor's dagger and walked back to his spot. "We will have our battle but not yet." Laying down, Einar closer his good eye.

With that over, Balor walked out of Wilusa and looked up to the sky. Where was his grandfather Wodanaz? Had he any aid for him? Could he tell him where to go? He didn't know what to do and he could only turn to Wodanaz.


	5. A Head of State Redeemed

**Welcome back everyone. After a year since the first two episodes debuted on Teletoon here in Canada, the 2011 series will finally be airing completely on Fridays at the 7 PM time slot. Enjoy and review.**

**A Head of State Redeemed**

Balor had left Wilusa with the ThunderCats, Gardites, Zuvowangidae, Dalvings and others such as Lib the Nomis. He didn't know why but Balor felt like he had to return to the place of his birth… It seemed like Brigid had been brought there but at the same time there was something wrong here… The place that was appearing to him in his head was a place he had absolutely no memory of… Yet at the same time he did remember it for he remembered it from a time when he was someone else and himself at the same time.

As the large group sat beneath a canopy of trees, Balor sat with Gard and the ThunderCats. They all tried to figure out where the place was that was appearing in Balor's head.

"I just can't figure it out." Said Balor. "Where is this place? Why am I seeing visions of a place I've never been to?"

"Balor your first life was your own namesake who was the son of the first Wodanaz so it must be the first Balor's birthplace!" suggested Gard. He sat by an old, gnarled tree. By him were two tolacs, Cal and Ban, both named after his old tolac Calaban respectively.

"But his second life was also a son of his grandfather Wodanaz and his third one was the son of that second life." Pointed out Lion-O. "So the birthplace could be of either of those lives too!"

Balor didn't say anything he just thought one was a head of state would be redeemed from the horrible things Einar had said about her. All thoughts about that mysterious location were temporarily gone from his mind.

"Balor!" Gard was the one to bring Balor back to Third Earth. "What does the place look like?"

"Like Wilusa but older than Wilusa!" That was the best Balor could describe the place.

Immediately, Gard stood up. "I know the place! The forbidden city!"

"Why is it called that?" asked Cheetara. "Curse? Need an invitation to step foot in there?"

"It has become a nest for Labinnac."


	6. Bones of Balor

**Welcome back everyone. Enjoy and review.**

**Bones of Balor **

The group had come to the forbidden city… Once this had been Wilusa, the original Wilusa, now it's name belonged to a different city, a younger city. It had been here that the original Wodanaz had died along with the original Balor.

Standing before the bones of his own namesake and past life was strange for Balor. There was however something that did not seem right here. There shouldn't have been a forbidden city nor should there have been any bones.

"Small chieftain…" that was Sotrak's voice! "No escape…" And yet Sotark was nowhere to be seen!

Balor looked around. The voice sounded like it was coming from beneath him. As soon as he looked down, the ground beneath him opened up and down he went.

When Balor opened his eyes, he wondered if he had. For it was just as dark as when he had them closed. An Evabon's eyes could see a great distance but their eyes in the dark was no different than anyone else's.

As his eyes became used to the darkness, Balor started to wonder. Why did Sotark not just kill him? Why bring him down here? Would the others be able to find him? What would he have to do to see Brigid again? Would he have to give up an eye just as Wodanaz had?

No! There would be no giving up of eyes! There would be no death! It would not end here! Lion-O had met a tight spot years ago in the Mumm-Ra war and had not let it stop him. Balor would not let a tight spot stop him.

"Sotark!" Balor called out. "Do you hear me? This is Chieftain Balor! I killed you fifteen years ago and I will make sure you never escape the pit! I will rescue my love!"

There was a deep, sinister laugh in response. "You cannot defeat me! I am the pit! I am the circles of punishment! I am the greatest of all eternals! When Mumm-Ra lived he boasted such power and now I do! I cannot be defeated!"

Sotark was arrogant. Lion-O had defeated Mumm-Ra and Balor would defeat Sotark.


	7. The Fang of Sotark

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**The Fang of Sotark**

The pit shook, the Forbidden City quaked and every Eternal in the pit soon became petrified as they felt all their power leave them and seep into Sotark. In the form of a giant Lindworm, Sotark came forward and soon enough Balor found himself perilously close to one of Sotark's fangs.

"Balor!" That was Brigid's voice! He knew it! Balor looked up and saw, trapped in a jewel on Sotark's forehead. Had Balor not moved Sotark's fang would have run him through!

"Some eternal you are!" mocked Balor. "Do you need another form to face me? I was but a child when I slew you! At that time I was a novice shaman, now I am a master who had come for a duel but instead you face me with a borrowed form and my beloved as a shield!" Balor spat. "Coward!" Like his grandfather Wodanaz, Balor clenched his hands and black clouds formed in the tunnel. The clouds thundered, lighting struck and snow began to fall.

Sotark paused in shock. It was impossible. The boy who had slew him, this Chieftain of Evabon, how could he have been a descendant of Wodanaz? How could the one Sotark possibly wish to have revenge on be descended from Wodanaz? He had thought it meaningless that Wodanaz had appeared to him that day but now he knew why.

Sotark vanished and the jewel Brigid was trapped in with him.

"Beware!" That was Wodanaz's voice!

Again everything shook and Balor soon felt himself being pulled up through the earth by a great fist. Soon he found himself in the sky while a giant Sotark made of mud, stone, granite and flesh grasped him, the imprisoned Brigid again in his forehead.

Seeing this, Zuvowang backed away in shock. "Blood of my ancestors!"

Gard however stayed calm. He held his axe aloft and ran forward. "If this be the day that I ascended to the floating mountain then so be it!" He jumped and soon found himself at Sotark's left eye. He didn't even have to think about what he did next. He brought his axe into Sotark's eye. "Let this be added to your legend, Sotark!"

The ThunderCats only stared with mouths open along with many others, Zuvowang and Dalv included.

"Well, now I know how I'll be spending my old age." Commented Lion-O.


	8. The Master of Third Earth

**Welcome back everyone. Enjoy and review.**

**The Master of Third Earth**

Sotark let go off Balor and threw Gard down. This would have been the end of both had Cheetra not come to the aid of Gard and Wodanaz not sent a wyvern to rescue Balor.

Upon catching Gard, Cheetara found herself surprised by how alike it was to catching a boulder. Gard was surprised himself but for a different reason. The way he felt after having been thrown was a feeling he had not yet felt.

"Are you alright?" asked Cheetara.

Gard propped himself against a column. "I feel old… Something like that would not have bothered me in the old days."

Cheetara's eyes widened. Seeing Gard in such a state was strangely frightening.

As the wyvern put Balor down, the young chieftain looked at the creature in thanks. Always his grandfather would look out for him. This lasted for only about a few minutes when Sotark brought his hand down and grabbed the wyvern.

Bringing the wyvern up to his face, Sotark snarled. "Still that old shaman pesters me? I'll wipe out his entire bloodline if need be! No one challenges the Master of Third Earth!" And with that, Sotark crushed the wyvern and threw the body down at all who had accompanied Balor.

The wyvern's body landed not too far from Balor. The sight alone caused a blue fire to blaze in Balor's eyes. It wouldn't end here for them to be crushed like insects.

Sotark brought a fist down to everyone only for Balor to hold up a hand and Sotark to become frozen. There was a grin on Balor's face as he remembered doing the same thing to Thomeheb fifteen years ago. It worked. Since most of Sotark's body was earth then by all accounts it should not have been moving. He had just rendered Sotark a statue.

"That tactic works no matter now big the earth based eternal." Chuckled Balor.

Tygra raised an eyebrow. He then asked what everyone else had been thinking. "Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"

"Didn't know if that would work on an eternal that big." He then looked over at Gard. "How are you feeling?"

Gard just raised a hand in response. He was doing a lot of breathing and his eyes were quite wide.


	9. The Charnel Houses Below Wilusa

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**The Charnel Houses Below Wilusa**

Back in Wilusa, after a week and a half of unconsciousness Einar had finally roused himself from his slumber. He walked to one of Balor's councilors, Sweyn Iron Arm to enquire about whether or not Balor had returned.

"Is your chieftain home from his little wife hunt?" asked Einar.

"No, Maidenface." And with that Sweyn began to walk away. Einar followed, not really liking having been called something as tongue-in-cheek as 'Maidenface.' Sweyn had gone down to the charnel houses below Wilusa. This place had been unused for centuries ever since Evabon switched from burials to cremations. Besides being the record keeper for Wilusa, Sweyn came down to the charnel houses to clean the sarcophagi. There was one empty spot and it was here that Sweyn sadly cleaned, knowing there would be no return for his chieftain.

"Why do you come to this dreadful place?" asked Einar.

"To prepare my chieftain's body for its place here."

"Do you Wilusans still bury your dead?"

"No but it is just me being hopeful that things might go back to the old ways."

Einar looked at the empty spot and then at Sweyn. He was an odd record keeper. One with an arm like his would have been better suited for battle and the library.

"I don't understand you." Said Einar. "I don't understand any of you. How could you treat that pacifist so highly?"

"Many of us have known Balor since he was a child. We've seen him as he is throughout the years… Fifteen years, we've seen him grow to adulthood and many of us were here more than his father Pwyll, that immune blackguard!"

"Pwyll is his father?" asked Einar. "Then that means he'll never hand him over so I can kill Pwyll."

"Nope." Sweyn looked at the empty spot and gripped the corners with concerned eyes, hoping that his chieftain would return. Balor had to return. He had to return alive. If he didn't then this barbarous rapscallion would probably take up permanent residence in Wilusa. This was someone whom Sweyn simply could not stand! He'd either throw himself into the sea or onto a sword should Einar ever become Chieftain of Evabon. It would have been better to have either Ekoto or Alaksandu alive again instead of Einar as Wilusa's leader.


	10. Annulus of Black Magic

**Welcome back everyone. Enjoy and review.**

**Annulus of Black Magic**

Sotark's imprisonment did not last long. As soon as Brigid had been freed an annulus of black magic appeared around Sotark and to extension all those around him. Now free from Balor's power, Sotark prepared to crush all those around him. He lifted the buildings around him and held them aloft but as he did so, a heroic form appeared.

Wodanaz stood amongst all those before Sotark. The sudden appearance of this great celestial caused Sotark to put one of the buildings down gently and kneel down to look at the first shaman.

"What is this?" asked Sotark. "You dare appear before me now?

Wodanaz lifted his staff and immediately Sotark froze and this time there was nothing that Sotark could do to become free. No amount of black magic would free him. Balor was a great shaman but compared to all the rest he could not amount to his grandfather Wodanaz, the first shaman.

"No more shall you trouble Third Earth." Said Wodanaz. "You have caused chaos on the astral plane and now you have caused chaos on the mortal plane!" Ice began to form on Soatrk's immobilized body. "I hereby banish you from both and never shall the planes between planes be home to you." Bringing his staff down, Sotark's body shattered.

Sotark was gone, banished to the outer planes where there was no crossing to astral or mortal.

All looked on at Wodanaz, the celestial shaman's sudden appearance having been as much a shock to them as it had been to Sotark. Wodanaz did not speak to them he did not speak to himself. He just turned and looked at all present. They were all fine people, no matter the race.

And with that, he vanished. As mysterious as he ever was with his origins only being known to those who had been present to hear and witness them. But that was a story for another time.


End file.
